Num Ansom Chean – Fried Sticky Rice Cake

Num Ansom Chean – Fried Sticky Rice Cake

Num Ansom is consider a traditional cake for Cambodian. From the ancient time, Num Ansom was made in the important annual festivals only. It’s in Pchum Ben and in Khmer New Year. Num Ansom is a cake made of sticky rice with filled of green bean and pork. Normally Num Ansom is eaten alone as cake, the taste is slightly salt, because there is a little salt mixed in the sticky rice and its filled also has been seasoning to the right taste. Some people who like sweet also eat Num Ansom with sugar. But Num Ansom can also be fried and eat with sauce and vegetables. Anyway this way of serving Num Ansom is not widely known by all people.

It’s nothing to prepare much for this dish. Just cut out the cake in slices and fry it with little oil, to be a little dried (become yellow), and to be a little more crispy. Then the next important part is to make sweet-sour-sauce.

Preparation of the sauce

Put into a small bowl 1 tablespoon of boil water, then put in 1 tablespoon of sugar, minced garlic and chili, mix it well together. Then add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, add lemon juice (lemon juice is better than vinegar) to make it taste sweet-sour sauce as your favorite.

Num Ansom – Sticky Rice Cake, Cambodian traditional cake

Num Ansom – Khmer Sticky Rice Cake eating with sugar

Then Num Ansom Chean (chean means fried) is ready to serve with vegetables such as cucumber and green leaves herbs. If you have never tried fried sticky rice cake before, then do it once to see how much you enjoy it.

Num Ansom Chean – Fried Sticky Rice Cake eating with vegetables and sauce

Num Ansom can be bought everyday in the markets in Phnom Penh. But for countryside people, they can eat Num Ansom only in Pchum Ben or Khmer New Year occasions.